Workforce development program achieves new milestone, provides pathways to meaningful employment
Civic Works’ Center for Sustainable Careers (CSC) announces a milestone achievement of 1,000 Baltimore residents trained to pursue quality employment.
Since 2003, Civic Works has expanded access to family-sustaining careers for unemployed and underemployed Baltimore residents. Participants earn industry-recognized certifications in high-demand industries, learn employability skills, and receive case management and extensive on-the-job training to remove barriers to steady employment. The program maintains an average job placement rate of 88% and average starting wages of over $17.50 per hour.
“As an organization, we strive to offer multiple pathways to not only a job, but a career. This approach has proven highly transformational for our graduates, local employer partners, and our community,” said Eli Allen, Director of Civic Works’ Center for Sustainable Careers. “We are honored to reach this exciting milestone, but more than that, we are proud of the dedicated participants who showed up each day to pursue their goals.”
CSC provides participants with the technical and soft skills training needed to succeed in one of its five career tracks: solar installation, home energy efficiency, brownfields remediation, stormwater management, and utility infrastructure.
In addition to providing participants with an unparalleled training experience and wrap-around support, CSC partners with employers, helping them invest in their workers and advance equity across their practices by promoting the adoption of inclusive hiring policies, family-sustaining wages and career ladder strategies.
This milestone comes following a period of growth for the program. In 2018, CSC established a new training center in the Belair-Edison neighborhood of Baltimore, giving the program the space to train up to 150 more individuals each year.
The following year, CSC launched its utility infrastructure training track in partnership with BGE. Participants work with regional companies that perform natural gas line repair and replacement, underground utility work, utility locating services, tree care, and general construction. Civic Works and BGE will hold a graduation ceremony that will celebrate the partnership’s 100th graduate on Oct. 19 at Civic Works’ headquarters, the Clifton Mansion.
About Civic Works
Civic Works is Baltimore’s service corps and an AmeriCorps program. Its mission is to strengthen Baltimore’s communities through education, skills development, and community service. Civic Works AmeriCorps members tutor and mentor students, create community parks and gardens, help homeowners conserve energy, grow food for low-income residents, make homes safer for older adults, and recruit volunteers. Civic Works also trains Baltimore residents for employment in the healthcare, construction, and green job industries. For more information, please visit www.civicworks.com.
